Chapter 62 — Strangers

Luna's POV:

Tatum and I are walking hand in hand as the city is painted orange in the setting sunlight. The park is shockingly full of people and other couples and Tatum and I spot a bench up ahead as we begin to make our way towards it. On our way towards the bench I accidentally bump into a man.

"I'm so sorry I didn't mean to run into you ma'am." The man said quickly.

A look of shock suddenly ran across his face taking me by surprise.

"Oh no I'm sorry I wasn't paying attention." I replied.

The man stares at me as if he's seen a ghost and I begin to get uneasy.

"Is it really you?" The man says as he reaches towards my face.

I jerk back away from him as Tatum grabs the man's arm.

"Who are you and what do you want with my mate?" Tatum says in a cold growl.

The man's face suddenly changes as he looks from me to Tatum.

"I'm sorry. I thought you were someone I knew. My apologies...your majesty." The man replies saying the last word in a low whisper that I could barely hear.

It's now my turn to wear a shocked expression and I glare at the man as he shakes Tatum's hand from his arm then turns and walks away. My wolf immediately goes on edge and my thoughts are a mess the rest of the evening as I turn over what the man said in my mind. My parents and a few of their close friends had called me that growing up but I didn't recognize the man in the park and when I was younger I thought it was just a game where we pretended I was the princess.

The next few days were filled with meetings about budgets, blue prints, and deadlines but my mind constantly drifted back to the strange man's words and I could sense Tatum's unease as we boarded our plane home that evening. I let out a sigh as we took our seats and began rubbing my temples.

"You gonna tell me what's wrong or are you going to brood the whole flight back to?" Tatum says as he leans towards me.

I sigh again as Tatum takes my hand in his.

"It's something that guy from the park said. It caught me off guard and I don't know what to think about it." I finally replied.

"I would say you were the one who caught him off guard." Tatum replies.

"He called me your majesty." I say quietly.

Tatum looks at me in confusion.

"What do you mean? I didn't hear him call you anything." Tatum replies.

"I know. When he said my apologies he whispered it at the end." I say as I lean my head against the seat.

"But that doesn't make any sense. Why would he call you that and why would that bother you?" Tatum says, shaking his head in confusion.

"My parents and a few family friends called me that when I was really young. I thought it was part of some game we played where I pretended to be a princess but...I didn't recognize the guy from the park." I replied.

Realization settles on Tatum's face as unease mixed with anger flashes in his eyes.

Tatum's POV:

An uneasy feeling settles in the pit of my stomach at Luna's words and I squeeze her hand. I have the nagging feeling that something isn't right but I also don't want to worry Luna further. I had noticed her acting differently after that night but I would have never guessed it was something like that. It bothered me that this man had used a childhood nickname on my mate that I wasn't even aware of until moments ago and I realized there were things I still didn't know about Luna. Things she didn't share with anyone because the pain was too much.

I suddenly felt disconnected from her mixed with a sense of wanting to know everything I could about her. I know that we didn't know everything about each other and that we were still a fairly young couple but I didn't like this feeling. As if she could read my mind, Luna squeezed my hand and kissed my cheek lightly. After a few moments we settled in leaning against each other and tried to get some sleep before our flight landed the next morning.

We landed around 5 am the next morning and a cab took us straight home. We both quickly showered and refreshed ourselves before getting breakfast and heading towards the office. We met with my father in the large conference room and went over all the details and progress the building crew had made. We also went over the new projected budgets and deadlines. Once we were through we all stood from our chairs. Luna excused herself and was first to leave the room as my father walked over to me with a smile. I smiled back at him as I began to gather up my things.

"You two make a good team." My father says as he smacks me on the back.

"Yes and I think these two have deserved a break. there is still a wedding to plan." My mother replies as she looks at my father with a grin.

"Your right, your right dear. Take a couple of weeks off you two. Spend some time thinking about the wedding. Your mother and I are here if you need any input or help as well." My father replies with a grin.

I excuse myself and swiftly make my way to Luna's office. I'm standing in the doorway of Luna's office watching her as she straightens up her desk with her back facing me.

"Are you always this busy princess?" I ask with a chuckle.

Luna jumped slightly then turned to face me.

"Well these spreadsheets aren't going to do themselves." She replied with a grin.

I closed the door to her office then took large strides to close the distance between us and took her in my arms.

"Well I guess they will have to do themselves." I replied.

"Tatum what are you doing?" She asked as she pushed against me.

"We have the next few weeks off." I say in a low whisper next to her ear.

"What?" Luna says as she stops struggling against me.

"Yeah, apparently mom thinks we aren't spending enough time on wedding planning." I reply with a mischievous grin.

I feel Luna's heart beat quicken at my words and her eyes go wide.

"Where do we even start?" Luna asked hesitantly.

"I'm sure we can figure it out, princess." I reply and then give her a gentle kiss.